Zelenskiy’s advisor: The last stronghold in eastern Ukraine may fall

• The Russian city of Belgorod, which is close to the Ukrainian border, was also shaken by explosions
• Three persons were injured and were brought to a hospital as a result of the explosions
• Since its first military incursion in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has been attempting to drive Ukrainian soldiers out of the Donbas provinces

July 3, Ukraine – As an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy acknowledged the city would fall, fighting erupted for Lysychansk, Ukraine’s final major stronghold in the strategically important eastern region of Luhansk.

The Russian city of Belgorod, which is close to the Ukrainian border, was also shaken by explosions, the regional governor reported early on Sunday.

Three persons were injured and were brought to a hospital as a result of the explosions, according to a Telegram message from Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Since its first military incursion in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has been attempting to drive Ukrainian soldiers out of the Donbas provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Kiev.

While Kiev claims Moscow has increased missile attacks on places far from the main eastern battlegrounds, Ukrainian troops on the front lines in the east report severe artillery barrages on residential areas and accuse Russia of intentionally targeting civilian targets.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, thousands of civilians have died and towns have been destroyed in what Ukraine and its Western allies claim is an unprovoked war of aggression. In what President Vladimir Putin refers to as a “special military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” its neighbour, Russia denies targeting civilians.

Following some of the hardest combat of the conflict, Russian forces captured Sievierodonetsk, a city on the other side of the Siverskiy Donets river from Lysychansk, last month.

The pro-Moscow self-styled Luhansk People’s Republic’s envoy to Russia, Rodion Miroshnik, stated on Russian television that “Lysychansk has been brought under control,” but added, “Unfortunately, it is not yet liberated.”

Russian media broadcast footage of Luhansk militia parading through Lysychansk streets while applauding and waving flags, while Ruslan Muzychuk, a spokesman for the Ukraine National Guard, assured Ukrainian television that the city was still under Ukrainian control.

Currently, there are severe clashes taking place close to Lysychansk, but fortunately, the city is not encircled and is in the hands of the Ukrainian army, according to Muzychuk.

The battlefield accounts could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Oleksiy Arestovych, a Zelenskiy adviser, claimed that Russian forces were now approaching the city from the north after finally crossing the Siverskiy Donets river.

“There is a threat here. We’ll see. I don’t discount any of the potential outcomes in this situation. Within a day or two, things will become significantly more evident “explained he.

But according to Arestovych, capturing Lysychansk would make life more difficult for the Russians strategically since they would have to concentrate on six important cities in the heavily industrialised eastern Donbas region, dividing their forces more thinly.

“The picture alters in favour of Ukraine the more Western weaponry enter the fray,” he continued. Ukraine has frequently pleaded with the West for more arms, claiming that its forces are vastly outgunned.

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